Promoting sustainable beekeeping to combat

poverty and to build resilient livelihoods

Janet Lowore

1

supporting livelihoods and trade • Ethiopia Beekeeping to build resilient livelihoods. Role of bees in pollination is poorly understood by many farmers.

• Uganda Promoting beekeeper to beekeeper training model. Coffee farmers report increased yields with bees.

• Ghana Integrating cashew farming with beekeeping. Research shows cashew nut yields double with bees in orchards.

Bees for Development knowledge, information, education

• Bees for Development Journal reaches over 60,000 readers with each issue.

• Resource boxes of training materials disseminated – including

educational posters about pollination.

• Online library – accessed by beekeepers, extension agents, educators and businesses.

Ghana Export Promotion Authority reports that cashew earned

about $197 million in revenue in 2016, supporting many families.

Cashew is pollinated by honey bee (Apis mellifera), stingless bees

(Dactylurina staudingeri and Liotrigona parvula) and solitary bees.

Nut yield (kg) per tree with bees

Nut yield (kg) per tree no bees

Raw cashew nut yield in cashew orchards in four sites in

Ghana (2012/13)

The Study of the Effects of Integrating Beekeeping into Cashew Farms in Ghana and Benin by Dr. Kwame Aidoo for The African Cashew Initiative http://www.africancashewinitiative.org/imglib/downloads/140218_beekeeping%20study.pdf

Item Without bees With bees

Raw cashew nut yield per tree 4.5 kg 9.1 kg

Value of raw cashew nut/ha/year GHC 336 GHC 679

Value of hive products 0 GHC 396

Total gross annual income

GHC 336 (US$ 177)

GHC 1075 (US$ 566)

Income value of integrating honey bee colonies into one hectare of

cashew farms in Ghana

Bees for Development is supporting Master Beekeepers to site bees

in orchards of small-scale growers, and give beekeeping training.

Response mounted by Dr. Kwame Aidoo,

Director of Bees for Development Ghana

Mass spraying of agrochemicals will have the following negative

effects:

Reduction of populations of many pollinators, leading to cashew

yield reductions.

Oecophylla ants which effectively control insect pests in cashew

orchards will be totally eliminated.

Populations of honey bees from beekeepers’ colonies will be

reduced, hitting farmers incomes.

-

- Symposium - Research in Beekeeping and Sustainable

Development 28-29 March 2018

Organised by

Bees for development and

Global Development Division, University of Reading

details

Bees for Development 1 Agincourt Street Monmouth NP25 3DZ UK +44 (0) 1600 714848 www.beesfordevelopment.org

14